Author: chicagoinquirer

A debate over the debt ceiling is at the center of a dispute over funding that is pushing Washington to the brink of a federal government shutdown. President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that a provision raising or suspending the nation’s debt limit — something that his own party routinely resists — be included in legislation to avert a government shutdown. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday. Republicans quickly complied, including a provision in a revamped government funding proposal that would suspend the debt ceiling for two years, until Jan. 30, 2027. But…

WASHINGTON — A day before a potential government shutdown, the House resoundingly rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s new plan Thursday to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling, as Democrats and dozens of Republicans refused to accommodate his sudden demands. In a hastily convened evening vote punctuated by angry outbursts over the self-made crisis, the lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage — but House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared determined to reassess, before Friday’s midnight deadline. “We’re going to regroup and we will come up with another solution, so stay tuned,” Johnson said after the vote. The cobbled-together…

by Kate Brumback ATLANTA — A state appeals court on Thursday removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others but did not dismiss the indictment, leaving the future of the prosecution uncertain. The case against Trump and more than a dozen others had already been largely stalled for months while the Georgia Court of Appeals considered the pretrial appeal. The new ruling means it will be up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to find another prosecutor to take over the case and to decide whether to continue to…

by Dyepkazah Shibayan ABUJA, Nigeria — Several children have died during a stampede on Wednesday at a holiday funfair in southwestern Nigeria, authorities said. The incident happened at the Islamic High School in Basorun, Oyo State, near the economic hub of Lagos. Security forces attended the scene and arrested the event organizers, state governor Seyi Makinde said in a statement. “Earlier today, an incident occurred in Islamic High School Basorun, the venue of an event organised for families. Sadly, a stampede at the venue has led to multiple loss of lives and injuries. This is a very sad day,” Makinde…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers announced LeBron James is available for Sunday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies after a two-game break for personal reasons. James did not play last Sunday against Portland or Friday at Minnesota. The Lakers announced about 45 minutes before tip-off against Memphis that James’ status had been upgraded from questionable to available. The Lakers described James’ time away as an excused absence while noting that he’s also been managing some left foot pain. Lakers coach JJ Redick revealed before the game with Memphis that he and the four-time NBA MVP met on…

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Jamie Foxx required stitches after getting hit in the face with a glass while celebrating his birthday at a restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, a representative for the actor told the Los Angeles Times. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the incident Friday night at the celebrity hotspot Mr. Chow. “Someone from another table threw a glass that hit him in the mouth,” a spokesperson for the actor said in a statement to the newspaper. “He had to get stitches and is recovering. The police were called and the matter is now in law enforcement’s…

by Michael R. Siak NEW YORK — ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. As part of the settlement made public Saturday, ABC News posted an editor’s note to its website expressing regret over Stephanopoulos’ statements during a March 10 segment on his “This Week” program. The network will also pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito. The settlement agreement…

by Chinedu Asadu ABUJA, Nigeria — West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS approved Sunday an exit timeline for three coup-hit nations after a nearly yearlong process of mediation to avert the unprecedented disintegration of the grouping. In a first in the 15-nation bloc’s nearly 50 years of existence, the military juntas of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced in January that they decided to leave ECOWAS, accusing it of “inhumane and irresponsible” coup-related sanctions and of failing to help them solve their internal security crises. “The authority decides to set the period from 29 January, 2025 to 29 July 2025 as…

by Michelle L. Price NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized for the second time by Time magazine as its person of the year. The honors for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump’s remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November. Before he rang the opening bell at 9:30 a.m., a first for him, Trump spoke at the exchange and called it “a tremendous honor.” “Time…

by Colleen Long WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had…